Pressure Cooker Red Beans

$6.70 recipe / $1.12 serving

Haha, I had a very “Louisiana” day yesterday! I made a big pot of red beans during the day and then went to a crawfish boil at night. :P Despite living in southern Louisiana, that was like a year’s worth of Louisiana squeezed into one day for me! Anyway, I was craving red beans, so I thought it was a good opportunity to try making them in my pressure cooker. Red beans are a super simple, flavorful, filling, and cheap meal, which is why they’ve been a staple food across the souther U.S. for generations. Beans are notorious for taking forever to cook, but with pressure cooker technology, these Pressure Cooker Red Beans can be finished in just about an hour! So, that pretty much makes them the perfect food, IMHO.

I used my 7-1 Multi-Functional Instant Pot pressure cooker so that I could do the sauté steps all right in the same pot, but you can use any electric or stove top pressure cooker. There are several other brands of multi-function pressure cookers on the market as well, such as this Cosori model that is a little less expensive and comes with a glass lid for when you’re using the slow cooker function. If you’re using an old-school single-functin pressure cooker, just do the first couple of sauté steps in a skillet and then transfer everything to the pressure cooker when you add the beans, spices, and broth.

The secret to good red beans is to use some sort of smoked meat, like sausage or a smoked ham hock, and to cook the beans down until they’re so soft that they begin to break down. When the beans break down they turn the cooking liquid into a deliciously thick and creamy mixture that is absolutely delightful with rice. It’s a match made in heaven. If possible, use andouille sausage, but if you can’t find it in your area just use another variety of smoked sausage. Make sure it’s a smoked sausage, not something like Italian sausage. And if you don’t want to use meat at all, I made a pretty delicious (if I do say so myself) Vegan Red Beans and Rice a few years back. No pressure cooker? No problem. Here is my recipe for regular stove-top Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.

Instructions

Slice the smoked sausage into medallions. Add the olive oil and sliced sausage to the multi-function pressure cooker or a skillet and sauté the sausage until it is brown on both sides (about 5 minutes). Once the sausage is well browned, remove it from the pot with a slotted spoon.

While the sausage is browning, finely dice the onion, bell pepper, and celery, and mince the garlic. After removing the sausage, add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic to the pot and continue to sauté for another five minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent. The moisture from the vegetables should dissolve the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.

Rinse and sort through the beans to remove any bad beans or debris. Add the beans to the pot along with the cooked sausage, thyme, oregano, paprika, cayenne, some freshly cracked pepper (about 20 cranks of a pepper mill), chicken broth, and water. Stir to combine.

Secure the lid on the pressure cooker and close the vent. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes (either use the manual button or bean/chili button on the Instant Pot and increase time to 35 minutes), then let the pot naturally release pressure as it cools. Test the beans to make sure they're extremely soft. If they're not soft yet, re-secure the lid, close the vent, and cook for an additional 20 minutes on high power.

Once the beans are very soft, stir and smash the beans agains the side of the pot with the back of a large spoon until the liquid thickens. Taste and add salt as needed (start with a teaspoon and add more until the flavors pop).

Add about 1.5 cups of red beans to a bowl, top with 1 cup rice and a sprinkle of sliced green onions.

Recipe Notes

*Feel free to use a whole pound of smoked sausage. I had 1/2 pound left over from another recipe and made it work with what I had.

Step by Step Photos

Start by slicing 1/2 lb. smoked sausage into medallions. Use andouille sausage, if possible, but if you can’t find it in your area, use another type of smoked sausage. Add the smoked sausage to the pot with 1 Tbps olive oil and sauté until the sausage is browned. If your pressure cooker does not have a sauté function, you can do this part in a skillet.

While the sausage is browning, finely dice one onion, one green bell pepper, and 3 stalks of celery. Mince four cloves of garlic. Remove the browned sausage from the pot and add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic.

Continue to sauté until the onions are soft and transparent. The moisture from the vegetables should dissolve all the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.

Finally, add 3 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water. Stir to combine. Secure the lid on the pot and cook on high pressure for 35 minutes (you can either use the manual or bean/chili buttons on the Instant Pot, then increase the time to 35 minutes).

After cooking at high pressure for 35 minutes, let the pot cool and release pressure naturally. Open the pot and test the beans for tenderness. You want them to be extremely tender and breaking down so that they make the liquid thick and creamy once you start stirring. If they’re not soft just yet, simply put the lid back on, close the vent, and set to high pressure again for another 20 minutes. If your beans are having a hard time softening, it’s most likely due to hard water or old beans.

Once the beans are very soft, stir the pot and smash the beans against the side of the pot as you stir. The starches from the beans will begin to turn the liquid into a nice thick sauce. Finally, taste the beans and add salt as needed. With dishes like this you absolutely will not taste all the flavor notes until it is seasoned well with salt. The chicken broth will add some salt, but you’ll most likely need to salt it at the end as well. Start with a teaspoon and add more as needed (the total amount will depend on the type of broth you used and your individual taste buds).

To serve the red beans, place about 1.5 cups in a bowl and top with a cup of cooked rice. Sprinkle sliced green onions over top. Don’t skip the green onions, either! They give the dish a blast of freshness that really brings it all together. :)

I’ve made this a few times and it’s delicious. However, the first few times I had to cook them an additional amount of time to get the beans done. This time, I cooked them on high pressure for 50 minutes from the get go and many of the beans are still hard and uncooked. What might I be doing wrong? I do live at about 5000 ft above sea level if that makes a difference. Thanks for any advice!

Hi Casey, that is definitely mysterious! I would guess that the high altitude would require longer cooking times, but I’m not sure what might be accounting for the difference between the first few times that you made it and the most recent attempt.

Thank you so much for this recipe, Beth! This was perfect. Only change I made was that I used a cup of beer, replacing one of the cups of water, and cooked it straight for 45 minutes on high pressure. Beans were creamy and the whole thing was rich and savory! I can’t wait to make this again!

I tried this tonight in my instant pot and the beans dried on the bottom and I read reviews on other sites to add 8 cups of water for 1lb of beans, otherwise i dont know what went wrong, would try using the manual next time.

It sounds like maybe the steam valve got stuck and didn’t close when the pot started to boil. This happened to me once and the bottom of what I was cooking burned. Always make sure that little silver float tab floats up to stop the steam from escaping as it’s cooking. That allows the pressure to build inside the pot. If that doesn’t happen, the heat element on the bottom of the pot will stay turned on because it will keep trying to reach pressure.

Hi! Do you think I could make the Pressure Cooker Red Beans in a slow cooker? Thank you for taking your time to do this site! We’re a single income active enlisted military family with 3 kiddos. We’re always on a tight budget and this is one of my go-to places to find recipes because they’re not just cheap, but tasty and have a lot of healthier options.

Yes, we Cook our red beans all the time in a slow cooker! I add in the beans, seasonings, water to cover plus 2 cups of water just to make sure it doesn’t go dry, I fry and drain the oil from the sausage and put in fridge…I don’t like the texture of the sausage after it sits in water all day…I add the sausage to the beans as soon as I walk in the door..they heat up and stay firm. Make your rice ahead of time and you have a quick meal! Happy eating!

One thing of note, you can also do the saute steps in an old fashioned stove top pressure cooker without any problem at all! Just add liquid, get all the browned bits loose and fit the lid. Super easy. In my mom’s house we’ve been doing that since I can remember (meat, soup, potatoes, everything).

Hi! I’m Beth

As a food lover and a number cruncher I've decided that cooking on a budget shouldn't mean canned beans and ramen noodles night after night. Join me for delicious recipes designed for small budgets. More »